DoD News

News Article

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2009  Coalition and Afghan forces have killed six enemy fighters and detained 14 others in operations in Afghanistan in recent days, military officials reported.

This morning, combined forces detained three suspects during an operation to disrupt a bomb-making network in eastern Afghanistan.

In the Sabari district of Khowst province, about 70 miles southeast of Kabul, Afghan and coalition forces searched a compound where the three suspects were detained without incident.

One rifle, two chest racks and ammunition were found and removed from the compound. Six women and 10 children were protected and there was no collateral damage to the property.

In other operations:

-- Yesterday, Afghan and coalition forces killed five militants and detained four others in northern Afghanistan’s Kondoz province during an operation targeting a terrorist network there.

In coordination with local Afghan police, the combined forces conducted an assault of a compound near the Tajikistan border. During the initial assault, forces encountered enemy combatants in the courtyard, and killed one and detained another. When they called out for non-combatants to exit the buildings, they were engaged with small arms fire. Forces returned fire and cleared the buildings, resulting in four militants killed and three detained.

Forces found multiple AK-47 assault rifles and chest racks on the compound and removed them.

No women or children were present in the targeted attacks.

-- On March 21, Afghan and coalition forces killed an insurgent and captured four others in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia province in an operation to disrupt terrorist networks operating near the Pakistan border.

The combined force approached a compound in the Dzadran district, about 80 miles south of Kabul, to capture a leader in a foreign fighter network that supplies the Islamic Jihad Union and Haqqani terrorist groups. As the force patrolled the compound, a suspected insurgent was seen fleeing on foot and the force pursued him. He maneuvered to higher ground, gaining a tactical advantage, and the assault force engaged him with small arms fire, killing him.

During a subsequent search of the compound, forces detained four suspects without further incident. Forces then conducted a search of a nearby compound without incident.

Eighteen women and 29 children were protected.

-- On March 20, Afghan National Police, minimally assisted by coalition forces, conducted an early morning search of a compound suspected of housing insurgents in eastern Afghanistan’s Ghazni province.

ANP conducted the search after receiving information from local villagers that the compound belonged to a man suspected of conducting insurgent activities in the area. Three suspects were detained and taken into custody during the search.

The ANP encountered no resistance and no shots were fired. All women and children present were safeguarded.